Writing an article and getting it published (2 Viewers)

[Jill Hives]

Career break?

That's my plan.

 

[CinnamonBoy]

Can you get a transfer to another department?

.

Nah, there's 7 of us who are direct employees of this agency and the only way I could get a transfer is if there is a surplus. Which, seeing as we're about 30 staff down on our initial quota is impossible.

 

[Jill Hives]

I will always be the the 'go for it' camp as long as you are single and not affecting anyone else. It's risky, and you have a kid now, make sure your bases are covered. You may hate your job but once you have a kid your life matters less than theirs. That's just my opinion and why I will never have one. I'm selfish/rash and I know it. Keep your job, write on the side for a while?

 

[CinnamonBoy]

Keep your job, write on the side for a while?

I will keep a job. My CV isn't actually that bad at this stage so I think I could pick up temp work or whatever, a different job maybe.
I'm also going to be trying out for a band who do covers of Europe, Foreigner and the Scorpions for dough.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

I agree with 7. It sounds to me like you just don't like your job and have an idea that you'd like to do something more interesting and fun. Realistically, it seems pretty unlikely that you're going to become a successful documentary director or author overnight. Directors spend years honing their craft. It's also expensive, time consuming and can be very frustrating at times, particularly if you are limited with your budget. Why not try to get a job at a publishers or a production company? That way you'll be getting paid for doing what you like and you'll have access to the tools of the trade and be around talented people you can learn from. If you're willing to work for peanuts these places often take on low paid interns.

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

So, I have done two things that I always threatened to do. I've set the wheels in motion to make a documentary and I've written a 2000 word piece which I think could be published online.

It's not quite misery-lit, but it is a confessional. And I think it's good. I've a good hook to start off with, a narrative and some quite shocking detail. I think it's a winner.

Who should I send it to? Should I write a cover letter explaining who I am? Guardian? Atlantic? New York Times? Vice? Any suggestions are welcome because I don't have a fucking clue. I think it's good and it reads well and it's total clickbait

From a freelancer I know

he needs to call or search the website or anyone he knows to get the 'right' person at any given publication to pitch to
and when he has that send an abstract of the piece, making the motivation for writing the piece and its tone clear
be clear about where in the publication you think it should go: features, analysis etc.
follow up
have some stock of published writing to point to even if it is a blog
and even if it is new. if you are planning to be a writer professionally you need to write every day
two weeks into a blog could be 40 articles

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

She also adds

I think you need to keep the job and find time to write every day...when that habit is in place
then try to go pro

 

[ann post]

the oulfella freelanced for 26 years before he went full time.

 

[Cormcolash]

I think you should

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[Cormcolash]

Then you might be able to

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[hydromancer]

I know of some journals of publishers that do ask for contributors and writers but they are mostly about occult stuff...
But something like your peice possibly could end up being in a book which is a collection of essays i see a few books around that are compendiums of writings by different authors on a similar or sometimes disimiler subjects.
But i would say you would want to be checking out what is going on. I mean are there any magazines or publishers around that you personaly like or think is cool ?
Also it probably is easy to do that kind stuff in the spare time but then again it depends how tied to or in need of the job you really are.

Here is a guide to the gaurdians submissions
Contributors' guide | Information | guardian.co.uk

You could try to publish it yourself i suppose !
Here is an example of a journal i know of looking for subs (on slightly odd subject!)
ANATHEMA PUBLISHING

 

[oh shit]

Why not try to get a job at a publishers or a production company? That way you'll be getting paid for doing what you like...

This is not the case at all. Although publishers and production companies might occasionally produce things you like and put them on the market, that in itself has very-little/nothing-at-all to do with the daily tasks assigned to the exploited people who work there. The talent is always coming from the outside, the company just processes it, and that is fucking dull work. You'll learn how to produce a book, not write the content. My partner worked in publishing for 5 years and has just recently quit, it's not what it's meant to be.

If you want to actually produce the goods, just start doing it (you already are, apparently). You seem pretty cocky about it which is a good start. But the advice so far is also true. It's a buyer's market. You need to love doing it more than you love the security of your wage-slavery, because for the most part, the love is all you're gonna have to go on. If you love doing it a bit, but also reckon you'll want a bit of income off it as well just to make it worthwhile, stop and reconsider. People who produce music for a living eventually always hate having to keep producing music for a living. If you know that you'll enjoy it more than you'll also hate it, go for it. Join me in the ranks of the professional drop outs.

 

[CinnamonBoy]

Thanks for the last two replies.

My missus is very supportive. And on €79k per year and will earn even more given time. She also wants to have my child and in that situation I will be staying at home as it makes more financial sense for us to go with that.

I have 4 ideas and I know being a journo/writer is a tough racket and would have no illusions on becoming a pro journo anytime soon. My plan is part-time job, covers band for dough and write, make a documentary, try and get my bike park idea going through my uncle who is a Dublin City councilor, all the while sending my CV to every job that looks ok and that I might just enjoy more than the civil service.

I don't think this seems too insane?

I have my PMDS for 2014 on Friday and I want to be able to tell my boss that I wanna leave.

Anyway, my kid lives in Gorey and working a 9-5 in Dublin means I never fucking see the lad. 3 times a month at most. And that hurts more than the work does.

 

[Jill Hives]

Sounds like you have it sorted! Best of luck! I am jealous while crossing my fingers I'll be doing something similar soon.

 

[rettucs]

It's a personal/universal story on dealing with alcoholism, drug addiction with an unplanned pregnancy thrown into the mix. That Scott Sossell piece from the Atlantic on anxiety appeared all over the shop and generated plenty of response pieces. I think this could do the same. Except it's not as boring.

a bit of a left-field suggestion perhaps but any chance you could pitch that as a TV series? It sounds like a hell of a premise for one if it were done right.

 

[oh shit]

Sounds like you've already made your mind up. And anyway if you don't need to work for money, and moreoever not working means you can start a family with your partner and see more of your son... well the writing stuff is just a bonus innit? Go for it!

 

[oh shit]

As for getting published, it might be a good idea to write something about this whole imminent quitting the civil service thing.

You could start to pitch it to commissioning editors at websites and papers and magazines now. Just send an email, keep it short, polite, and make yourself sound competent. Tell them you're leaving, tell them you are writing about it, tell them the issues that this explores - you need to hook it on a topic that the media is already interested in (e.g. the economy is tanking and Im QUITTING?; how I quit my dream job to be a stay-at-home dad, etc etc). No one cares about gonzo wildness for its own sake, unless you first have the profile, which then becomes the interesting thing (e.g. it's interesting that David Foster Wallace wrote this article, but the article itself is ostensibly about lobster fishing... that takes a reputation).

Basically, at the moment you have no profile, you are no-one as far as the media is aware, so to get in, you have to give them something else of interest. Then, if it's well written and well received, you can start getting more creative.

 

[CinnamonBoy]

As for getting published, it might be a good idea to write something about this whole imminent quitting the civil service thing.

.

Oddly enough, I mentioned this idea to my lady this morning. "My 6 years in the civil service" by the anonymous civil servant. I'd say the Indo would run 500 words on it. I've plenty to say on the matter.

Basically, at the moment you have no profile, you are no-one as far as the media is aware, so to get in, you have to give them something else of interest. Then, if it's well written and well received, you can start getting more creative. .

Its true I have no profile but neither did Scott Sossell of the Atlantic (this side of the world anyway) when he wrote that piece on anxiety. And my article begins with me recounting the tale of my boss telling me to go home because I was so drunk, and this was about 10:30am, so I figure even if you don't know me, you might be interested to read how such a person could end up in that situation - and still be in gainful employment a year later.

@scutter , that's an interesting idea but I wouldn't have a clue who to pitch it to. It ain't exactly The Roaring Twenties.

 

[oh shit]

Its true I have no profile but neither did Scott Sossell of the Atlantic (this side of the world anyway) when he wrote that piece on anxiety. And my article begins with me recounting the tale of my boss telling me to go home because I was so drunk, and this was about 10:30am, so I figure even if you don't know me, you might be interested to read how such a person could end up in that situation - and still be in gainful employment a year later.

Yeah that's fair enough. I have no idea who Scott Sossell or what happened for him to get published, so can't comment. But the fact that you describe it as a piece on anxiety suggests that it's not just a good story, it's a good story on a topic of interest to the news, i.e. anxiety.

Maybe someone, somewhere, will publish a random story from a random stranger, but it's not that likely. Every day, editors in newspapers, magazines, publishing companies, TV stations, radio programmes - basically all mass media companies - are ignoring thousands of batshit crazy pitches from random strangers (all of whom think they have a good story to tell). Probably some of them are undiscovered genius writers, but so what? Who in the media has time to sift through and check, when there is the far more important business to get on with, namely setting and responding to the news agenda, which every morning and night is lowered over the earth like a web, determining everything we must know and talk about?

In my experience, which is limited to BBC radio and a few articles for a UK newspaper, but also includes friends and family working as editors and freelance media nodes, it's far more likely that an editor will publish something that has news value, from the organization's point of view. That is true for journalists with profiles so is especially true if it's from a random stranger. Anxiety is a topic of social concern, and thus Sossell's piece may have appeared to have some value, even if it's as an ironic inversion of the usual narrative about anxiety. Quitting your job in the economic climate, choosing to be a family man - those are topics with obvious news value. I mean it as a means to an end. Once you've done it, even once, you'll have much greater chance of getting another story published, because an editor will view you as a legitimate writer rather than one of the thousands of random punters looking for a place in the global information machine.

Of course I am going on the assumption that what you wrote is basically a cracking short story... It might also have a lesson or a comment to make on something that is already of interest to the media's topics of interest - in which case, pitch it accordingly.

 

[CinnamonBoy]

Thanks @oh shit . I don't think I could ask for more insightful advice than that.

I'd be happy to send you the piece if you'd like to critique. If you told me it was complete rubbish I'd accept it as the self-indulgent rubbish it may well be. And try again. Or pour my energy into one of my other projects.
It would be a short-story, I suppose. Scott's anxiety piece was full of stats that people would not generally know. That gave it a certain news value but to me it made it boring. The bit that grabbed me was the opening when he tells the reader his method for coping with public speaking (lots of Xanax and a couple of shots of vodka, even if it's 9am). To me it was quite a whingy, boring and extreme piece (I suffer from anxiety but absolute nothing near like his level....I think he's afraid of cheese and all sorts of silly things).

But anyway, maybe the sensational secret civil servant idea would be ideal for getting a foot in the door.....